AristoteleRaimondo Lullo, Liber de ascensu et descensu intellectus, Valencia, scritto nel 1304 e prima pubblicazione nel 1512il mondo delle ideeidee come specie fissela realtà vera è immutabileil cambiamento sola apparenzail primato delle forme e dell'ordine immutabile come espressione di un dio geometrizzantethe concept of an animate cosmos, a living, harmonious whole, which made it so difficult in later periods to explain how evolution could have taken place, because any change would disturb the harmony.il cosmo come ordine, armonia perfetta e incorruttibilethe unilinear gradation which Aristotle saw in the world was a strictly static conceptAristotle found everywhere well-defined species, fixed and unchanging, this fixity of species and their forms (eide) had to be eternalL'idea della StoriaA concept of history began to develop in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The voyages acquainted the western world with the existence of primitive man, and the question suddenly was asked, How did civilized man develop from an earlier primitive state? This led for the first time to the asking of questions that now occupy the social sciences. Giambattista Vico wrote the great pioneering text Scienza Nuova (1725), dealing with the philosophy of history. According to Vico, the various periods of human history were not different aspects of essentially the same story; rather, they were successive stages of a continuing process, a process of necessary evolution. la geologia è scienza storical'idea di progressola cultura illuministicatestimonianza della possibilità del passaggio dalla materia inanimata alla vita?fenomeno in evidente contraddizione con l'idea della creazioneLeibniz e le potizialità della natura come illimitate, "la fine del progresso non sarà mai raggiunta"ottimismo come conseguenza logica del principio di pienezza (e delle sue implicazioni: immanenza e continuità)il progresso è una necessità

"the principle of Progressive Development as the simplest explanation as an explanation involving slow and gradual movement, such as we usually see in nature as an explanation appealing to and allying itself with science instead of resting on a dogmatic assumption of ignorance." Chambers perceived two things very clearly from the available evidence: (1) that the fauna of the world evolved through geological time, and (2) that the changes were slow and gradual and in no way correlated with any catastrophic events in the environment.Even though Chambers made some disparaging remarks about Lamarck, his thesis was in many ways the same as Lamarck's original theory, a gradual perfecting of evolutionary lines. Except for also postulating evolution, he was in no way a forerunner of Darwin.Chambers marshaled his evidence as follows: 1. The fossil record shows that the oldest strata have no organic remains; then follows an era of invertebrate animals; next a period during which fishes were the sole vertebrate forms in existence; next, a time when reptiles occur but not yet any birds or mammals, and so on. 2. In all the major orders of animals, there has been a progression from simple to complex, "the highest and most typical forms always being attained last." 3. The fundamental unity of organization is shown in every major group of animals, as revealed by the study of comparative anatomy. 4. The facts of embryology, as worked out by von Baer, show that the embryos tend to go through stages resembling their more primitive relatives.Robert Chambers,Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation,1844La logistica dell'arca di Noèuna tautologiasocial darwinismoevoluzione cosmicapassaggio dall'incoerente al coerente,passaggio dall'omogeneo all'eterogeneo,passaggio dall'indefinito al definitodall'evoluzione verticale - trasformazioneall'evoluzione orizzontale - diversificazione, divaricazionethe Beagle reached San Cristobal (Chatham) in September 1835 and it spent 5 weeks in the Galapagos charting the archipelagoDarwin was particularly struck by the"differences between the inhabitants of the different islands":

"The distribution of tenants of this archipelago", he wrote, "would not be nearly so wonderful, if for instance, one island has a mocking-thrush and a second island some other quite distinct species... But it is the circumstance that several of the islands possess their own species of tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous plants, these species having the same general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder."A note wrote during the homeward voyage of the Beagle (June? 1836): "When I see these islands in sight of each other and possessed of but a scanty stock of animals, tenanted by these birds but slightly differing in structure and filling the same place in nature, I must suspect they are varieties... If there is the slightest foundation for these remarks, the zoology of the Archipelagos will be well worth examining: for such facts would undermine the stability of species"In July opened first note Book on "transmutation of Species". — Had been greatly struck from about month of previous March on character of S. American fossils—& species on Galapagos Archipelago. — These facts origin (especially latter) of all my views.He was also profoundly influenced by Robert Chambers' work Vestiges of the Natural History of CreationAlfred Russel Wallace (1823 – 1913)"Ever since I had read the Vestiges of Creation before going to the Amazon, I continued at frequent intervals to ponder on the great secret of the actual steps by which each new species had been produced, with all its special adaptations to the conditions of its existence... I myself believed that [each species] was a direct modification of the preexisting species through the ordinary process of generation as had been argued in the Vestiges of Creation."The introduction of new species continued to remain a puzzle, and it is to this puzzle that Wallace addressed himself. As he clearly stated in his 1855 paper, it was geography, that is, his distributional observations in Amazonia and the Malay Archipelago, which gave him the answer: "The most closely allied species are found in the same locality or in closely adjoining localities and... therefore the natural sequence of the species by affinity is also geographical." And this observation leads him to the law: Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a pre-existing closely allied species. By stating either "in the same locality or in closely adjoining localities,"Darwin had introduced an entirely new approach to evolutionism, geographical evolutionism. Instead of attempting to solve the problem of the origin of diversity via the origin of new major types of organisms or through a comparison of taxa in the time (vertical) dimension, he compared contemporary taxa in the geographical dimensions, that is, he compared populations and species which replace each other geographically. un nuovo evoluzionismo:evoluzionismo geograficoOn the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species written at Sarawak in Borneo in February of 1855 and published in Volume 16 (2nd Series) of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History in September 1855On April 16, 1856, Darwin gave Lyell a full report on his ideas. Although Lyell apparently was still not yet convinced, he nevertheless strongly urged Darwin to publish his ideas lest he be scooped by someone else. On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Typethe famous essay introducing natural selection This paper, along with excerpts from two unpublished writings by Darwin, was read before a special meeting of the Linnean Society of London on 1 July 1858, and published on pages 53-62 of Volume 3 of that Society's Proceedings series.in June 1858, when Darwin had completed the first draft of ten and a half chapters, the roof fell in on him. He received a letter from Wallace accompanied by a manuscript entitled "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type." In his letter, Wallace said that if Darwin thought his paper sufficiently novel and interesting, he should send it to Lyell and, presumably, submit it for publication (the original Wallace letter is no longer in existence). Darwin forwarded Wallace's paper on June 18 to Lyell, with a letter saying, "Your words have come true with a vengeance that I should be forestalled... I never saw a more striking coincidence; if Wallace had my manuscript sketch written out in 1842, he could not have made a better short abstract!... so all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed." Linnaeus laid the groundwork for the development of a natural, hierarchical classification, which in time virtually forced the acceptance of the concept of common descent. And yet, by recognizing genera, orders, and classes, Linnaeus destroyed the "continuity of life" and replaced it by a hierarchy of discontinuities."In October [actually September 28] 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here, then, I had at last got a theory by which to work." 1958. The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, ed. Nora Barlow. London: Collins, p. 120.Darwin legge MalthusDarwin's theory consisted of three inferences based on five facts derivedin part from population ecology and in part from phenomena of inheritance. Fact 1: All species have such great potential fertility that their population size would increase exponentially (Malthus called it geometrically) if all individuals that are born would again reproduce successfully.

Inference 1: Since more individuals are produced than can be supported by the available resources but population size remains stable, it means that there must be a fierce struggle for existence among the individuals of a population, resulting in the survival of only a part, often a very small part, of the progeny of each generation.

These facts derived from population ecology lead to important conclusions when combined with certain genetic facts. Fact 4: No two individuals are exactly the same; rather, every population displays enormous variability. Fact 5: Much of this variation is heritable.

Inference 2: Survival in the struggle for existence is not random but depends in part on the hereditary constitution of the surviving individuals. This unequal survival constitutes a process of natural selection. Inference 3: Over the generations this process of natural selection will lead to a continuing gradual change of populations, that is, to evolution and to the production of new species.

A built-in capacity for or drive toward increasing perfection (autogenetic theories)Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772 – 1844)"The external world is all-powerful in alteration of the form of organized bodies.. . these [modifications] are inherited, and they influence all the rest of the organization of the animal, because if these modifications lead to injurious effects, the animals which exhibit them perish and are replaced by others of a somewhat different form, a form changed so as to be adapted to the new environment."

Analitici Posteriorila definizione è “dichiarazione dell’essenza”Per definire l’essenza di qualcosa, secondo il metodo aristotelico, devo indicarne il genere prossimo e la differenza specificaMetafisica Il genere è “il soggetto a cui si attribuiscono le opposizioni e le differenze specifiche”Topiciad esempio: definizione di uomogenere prossimo: animaledifferenza specifica: razionalema l'essenza è una forma fissa e immutabileWilliam Paley (1743–1805)"For my part I take my stand in human anatomy"; elsewhere he insists upon "the necessity, in each particular case, of an intelligent designing mind for the contriving and determining of the forms which organized bodies bear""In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had before given, that for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. (...) There must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed [the watch] for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use. (...) Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation."William Paley, Natural Theology (1802)

l'analogia dell'orologiaioFrancis Henry, Earl of Bridgewater commissioned the Bridgewater Treatisesby his last will and testament, bearing date the 25th of February, 1825 he directed to invest the sum of eight thousand pounds sterling at the disposal of the President of the Royal Society of London, to be paid to the person or persons nominated by him. The testator further directed, that the person or persons selected by the said President should be appointed to write, print, and publish, one thousand copies of a work 'On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation ;' illustrating such work by all reasonable arguments, as, for instance, the variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; the effect of digestion, and thereby of conversion ; the construction of the hand of man, and an infinite variety of other arguments : as also by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, sciences, and the whole extent of literature.The Bridgewater treatises represent the state of safe, orthodox, science in early Victorian Britain.

Treatise I, by Thomas Chalmers. The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man. 2 vols.

Treatise II, by John Kidd, On the Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man.

Treatise III, by William Whewell. On Astronomy and General Physics.

Treatise IV, by Charles Bell. The Hand: Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design.

Treatise VI, by William Buckland. Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology. 2 vols.

Treatise VII, by William Kirby. On the History Habits and Instincts of Animals. 2 vols.

Treatise VIII, by William Prout. Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion.fine del diluvialismoWilliam Buckland (1784 – 1856)uno degli autori dei Bridgewater TreatisesGeology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theologyil tempo come ciclo, non storiaiperuranioFedro Georges Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, primo volume, 1749Le radici del pensiero evoluzionistico. Stefano Canalicanali@sissa.itDa Platone a Darwinsegna l'avvio del sistematico uso della nomenclatura binomiale nelle scienze della vital'opera classificava oltre 10.000 specie tra piante e animaliad es. Homosapiensmolti tra i primi naturalisti erano religiosi, come ad esempio i missionaripastore anglicano, filosofo, naturalistaGiambattista Vico (1668 – 1744)« Pur gli uomini hanno essi fatto questo mondo di nazioni...ma egli è questo mondo, senza dubbio, uscito da una mente spesso diversa ed alle volte tutta contraria e sempre superiore ad essi fini particolari ch'essi uomini si avevan proposti »Eterogenesi dei finilaicitàindividualismoliberalismomaterialismoL'idea della nebulosa solare fu avanzata dal filosofo e mistico Emanuel Swedenborg nel 1734.Veniva ripresa e articolata nella sua "Storia naturale universale e teoria dei cieli", 1755 da Immanuel Kant, che aveva letto i lavori di Swedenborg. Successivamente Pierre-Simon Laplace la riprendeva nella sua Esposizione del sistema del mondo del 1796.Questa idea rimandava sostanzialmente a quanto Cartesio aveva già proposto nei Principia Philosophiae del 1644, in cui aveva illustrato la sua teoria dei vortici. Secondo questa ipotesi il sistema solare era nato da vortici primordiali di materia in contrazione con massa e dimensioni differenti. Il sole sarebbe nato da uno dei vortici più grandi, mentre dai vortici più piccoli si sarebbero formati i pianeti.esplorazioni, geologia paleontologiaJulien Offray de La Mettrie (1709 - 1751)ateismoDarwin's finchesdeismoargomento cosmologico o prova a posteriori dell'esistenza di dio"The effects we acknowledge naturally, do include a power of their producing, before they were produced; and that power presupposeth something existent that hath such power; and the thing so existing with power to produce, if it were not eternal, must needs have been produced by somewhat before it, and that again by something else before that, till we come to an eternal, that is to say, the first power of all powers and first cause of all causes; and this is it which all men conceive by the name of God, implying eternity, incomprehensibility, and omnipotence."—Thomas Hobbes, Human nature, 1650, in The english Works of Thomas Hobbes, John Bohn, London, 1810, vol. 4, pp. 59–60https://archive.org/stream/englishworksofth029531mbp#page/n7/mode/2upla scoperta della diversitàPierre BaylePensées Diverses sur la Comète (1682)Dictionnaire historique et critique (1697)According to deism, we can know by the natural light of reason that the universe is created and governed by a supreme intelligence; however, although this supreme being has a plan for creation from the beginning, the being does not interfere with creation; the deist typically rejects miracles and reliance on special revelation as a source of religious doctrine and belief, in favor of the natural light of reason.Deism is the form of religion fitted to the new discoveries in natural science during the scientific revolution, according to which the cosmos displays an intricate machine-like order; the deists suppose that the supposition of God is necessary as the source or author of this order.SEP, Enlightenmentreligione naturaleDeism holds that God does not intervene with the functioning of the natural world in any way, allowing it to run according to the laws of nature. For Deists, human beings can only know God via reason and the observation of nature, but not by revelation or supernatural manifestationsJohn Toland Christianity Not Mysterious (1696)Matthew Tindal Christianity as Old as the Creation (1730)sitographyhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/0k06raf9g8bs56g/Origins%20of%20Evolutionary%20Theory.htm